The plane we are on from Tel Aviv to Toronto is a Boeing 767. That is pretty much the age of the Air Canada flight attendant who is serving our section of the plane. Seriously. I think she was probably hired when the name of the airline was Air British North American. More like a Boeing 1867 if you ask me.
And what can I say about the wonderful caring assistance from our crew of Air Canada flight attendants on this plane? Their motto: "Service with a sneer".
Ben Gurion airport is a 24 hr. a day operation, with flights leaving and arriving...

HaYom Yom Huledet shel Lizzy! We gave her all the Beit Sefer HaMaflotzet (Monsters University) tchotchkes that we found at Toys ‘R Us and The Disney Store in Times Square in NYC a month ago (seriously – we left Edmonton a month ago today!). Along with our American Express Card and Bank Card to travel with for her remaining 10 days in Israel and 10 days following in Berlin & Amsterdam that should be sufficient by way of birthday presents, I’m guessing.
Shabbat morning at Neve Shechter in Neve Tzedek. A Sefardi Masorti Congregation led by Rav...

The shuk ate my wallet….or something like that. But let’s not dwell on that when we have many more fun things to do.
Our little family is all in Israel for the first time. What with Lizzy’s work yesterday morning and party last night and Ari & Faren’s afternoon jet lap induced sleep catch up yesterday afternoon and evening visit with Etai, today was the first day that we all got to play together.
Lizzy had a rough morning after the night before. Thank you Club Penny! And so she slept in while the other 4 of us went to Café Lindwer on...

Ari & Faren arrived at 6:11a.m. this morning– 50 minutes early. Oops, missed the big B’ruchim Ha’Baim l’Yisrael moment. Sorrrrrry!! I got up at 6:00 a.m. as it was. Who knew I needed to get up at 5:00 a.m. And who takes a flight that arrives at 6:11a.m. anyway! What’s up with that, El Al?
Ari & Faren are zonked – After a short walk to the bakery and back for some rugelach and berekhas, the slept the morning and ½ the afternoon away.
Meantime, Debbie & I took the No. 4 bus (6.60 NIS fare, thank you very much) down Ben Yehuda & Allenby to...

Ripped from today’s headlines: “Woman mistakes super glue for lip balm and seals lips shut. Husband immediately drops divorce proceedings.” I did not make that up! I couldn’t.
If you only have 2 meals during the day, let them be at “Benedict’s” in the morning and at “Abu Zaki’s” at night. And let both meals involve a variation on the theme of “ground meat spiced with cardamom on top of something”. Scrambled eggs, for example, for brunch. Hummus, for example, for dinner. Yup, that’ll work.
Sandwiched between those meals (get it?) we spent...

Pat, Elaine & I played Mario Kart in our Toyota “Ensis” rental car while navigating the Ayalon Freeway during rush hour this morning on our way to Ben Gurion airport.
They have a long journey home ahead of them but Pat is looking forward to one final falafel meal in the airport before boarding the plane. They are smuggling our extra suitcase back to Edmonton with them, so that we will be able to shlep home 2 extra ones ourselves filled with Lizzy’s stuff. I left a little extra room in one of the front pockets for extra falafel balls so...

Top story in Israel today: Israeli Supreme Court orders City of Tel Aviv to enforce it’s own bylaws which prohibit businesses from being open on Shabbat. This elicits immediate howl from everyone who lives in Tel Aviv. “What is this? Jerusalem?” The Mayor pledges to overturn the bylaws, while admitting that taking in about 1.5Million NIS every week from the fines doled out by Bylaw enforcement officers is going to be a tough financial pill for the city to swallow. When it comes to finding a decent restaurant on Friday night, however, we’re...

In the 1920’s a German architectural school known as ‘Bauhaus’ was established by a number of really good architects who, for some unknown reason, had funny sounding names. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, for example. And Walter Gropius (well, I don’t even have to tell you that mothers wouldn’t let their children anywhere near that guy!).
Bauhaus means “house of construction”. Tel Aviv is nicknamed “The White City” because of the over 4,000 Bauhaus style buildings sporting a limestone white-washed facade buildings. For enduring the eternal and...

I hab a bad code id by doze. I hab had id for aboud 3 daze now. I will live. Probably. Bud for dow, I ab sick.
Which means I slept away the morning and early afternoon so that I could join in with everybody for the traditional Shabbat in Tel Aviv….. on the beach. Shlomi, Ossi, Eyal & Shira joined us for play time in the Mediterranean. The water was warm and the waves were gentle so there was no problem walking out quite far before the water got too deep.
Kind of like in Calgary, or so it appears. The photos we’ve been seeing of the...

Today, a security officer in Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza shot and killed a man who was acting nervous and was screaming ‘Allah hu Akbar’. As this is the usual modus operandi prior to a suicide bomber pulling the plug, the officer’s reactions were natural, instinctive, and would normally have earned him a hero’s medal.
Today, unfortunately, the proponent of Allah turned out to be a mentally unstable Jewish man who frequented the Western Wall Plaza and panhandled for a living while sleeping either in the streets or in a Chabad House...

Wednesday 1st May
Today we drove into the centre of the old town of Jaffa. First we got an audio tour tape from the information centre which directed us around the historic site with accompanying explanations. A quick meal and ice cream for lunch and then a continuation of the tour into an underground museum. This was where considerable excavation had taken place to show the historic background to Jaffa and its original importance as a port. Excellent tour and a couple of explanatory films as well.

Sunday 28th April
In the afternoon we went in to Jerusalem to the Machane Yehuda street market in one of the older parts of the town. Machane Yehuda was one of the first Jewish settlements outside the old walled city. There we bought some fruit and vegetables and also had excellent light dinner in one of the cafes.
Monday 29th April
Went to visit my nephew Daniel, his wife and four children in Raanana. Had a very pleasant time with them all.